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<H1 class="no-header">curs_initscr 3x</H1>
<PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>                                              <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>




</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>, <STRONG>isendwin</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_term</STRONG>, <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> screen
       initialization and manipulation routines


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG>&lt;curses.h&gt;</STRONG>

       <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*initscr(void);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>endwin(void);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>bool</STRONG> <STRONG>isendwin(void);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*newterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>type</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>FILE</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>outfd</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>FILE</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>infd</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_term(SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>new</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>delscreen(SCREEN*</STRONG> <EM>sp</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>

</PRE><H3><a name="h3-initscr">initscr</a></H3><PRE>
       <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> is normally the first <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routine to call when  initializing
       a  program.   A few special routines sometimes need to be called before
       it; these are <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">slk_init(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>filter</STRONG>, <STRONG>ripoffline</STRONG>, <STRONG>use_env</STRONG>.  For multiple-
       terminal applications, <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> may be called before <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.

       The initscr code determines the terminal type and initializes all <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
       <STRONG>es</STRONG> data structures.  <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> also causes the first call to  <STRONG><A HREF="curscurs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>
       to  clear  the  screen.  If errors occur, <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> writes an appropriate
       error message to standard error and exits; otherwise, a pointer is  re-
       turned to <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-newterm">newterm</a></H3><PRE>
       A program that outputs to more than one terminal should use the <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>
       routine for each terminal instead of <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.  A program that needs  to
       inspect capabilities, so it can continue to run in a line-oriented mode
       if the terminal cannot support a screen-oriented  program,  would  also
       use <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>.  The routine <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> should be called once for each termi-
       nal.  It returns a variable of type <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> which should be saved as a
       reference to that terminal.  <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>'s arguments are

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the <EM>type</EM> of the terminal to be used in place of <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG>,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   a file pointer for output to the terminal, and

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   another file pointer for input from the terminal

       If the <EM>type</EM> parameter is <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>, <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG> will be used.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-endwin">endwin</a></H3><PRE>
       The  program  must also call <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> for each terminal being used before
       exiting from <STRONG>curses</STRONG>.  If <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> is called more than once for the  same
       terminal, the first terminal referred to must be the last one for which
       <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> is called.

       A program should always call <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> before  exiting  or  escaping  from
       <STRONG>curses</STRONG> mode temporarily.  This routine

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   resets colors to correspond with the default color pair 0,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   moves the cursor to the lower left-hand corner of the screen,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   clears  the  remainder of the line so that it uses the default col-
           ors,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   sets the cursor to normal visibility (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_set(3x)</A></STRONG>),

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   stops cursor-addressing mode using the <EM>exit</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>ca</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>mode</EM> terminal  capa-
           bility,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   restores tty modes (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">reset_shell_mode(3x)</A></STRONG>).

       Calling <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></STRONG> or <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">doupdate(3x)</A></STRONG> after a temporary escape causes the
       program to resume visual mode.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-isendwin">isendwin</a></H3><PRE>
       The <STRONG>isendwin</STRONG> routine returns <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> has been called without any
       subsequent calls to <STRONG>wrefresh</STRONG>, and <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG> otherwise.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-set_term">set_term</a></H3><PRE>
       The  <STRONG>set_term</STRONG>  routine  is  used to switch between different terminals.
       The screen reference <STRONG>new</STRONG> becomes the new current terminal.  The  previ-
       ous  terminal  is  returned  by  the routine.  This is the only routine
       which manipulates <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> pointers; all other routines affect  only  the
       current terminal.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-delscreen">delscreen</a></H3><PRE>
       The  <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG>  routine  frees  storage associated with the <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> data
       structure.  The <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> routine does not do this, so <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> should be
       called after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> if a particular <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> is no longer needed.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> returns the integer <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> upon successful com-
       pletion.

       Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.

       X/Open defines no error conditions.  In this implementation

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> returns an error if the terminal was not initialized.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> returns an error if it cannot allocate the data  structures
           for  the  screen,  or  for the top-level windows within the screen,
           i.e., <STRONG>curscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>newscr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>set_term</STRONG> returns no error.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
       These functions were described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4.  As
       of 2015, the current document is X/Open Curses, Issue 7.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Differences">Differences</a></H3><PRE>
       X/Open  specifies that portable applications must not call <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> more
       than once:

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   The portable way to use <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> is once only,  using  <STRONG>refresh</STRONG>  (see
           <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">curs_refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>) to restore the screen after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   This implementation allows using <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>.

       Old versions of curses, e.g., BSD 4.4, may have returned a null pointer
       from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> when an error is detected, rather  than  exiting.   It  is
       safe but redundant to check the return value of <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> in XSI Curses.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Unset-TERM-Variable">Unset TERM Variable</a></H3><PRE>
       If  the  TERM variable is missing or empty, <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> uses the value "un-
       known", which normally corresponds to a terminal entry with the <EM>generic</EM>
       (<EM>gn</EM>)  capability.   Generic  entries  are  detected  by  <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> (see
       <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>) and cannot be used for full-screen operation.  Other
       implementations may handle a missing/empty TERM variable differently.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Signal-Handlers">Signal Handlers</a></H3><PRE>
       Quoting from X/Open Curses, section 3.1.1:

            <EM>Curses</EM>  <EM>implementations</EM>  <EM>may</EM>  <EM>provide</EM>  <EM>for</EM> <EM>special</EM> <EM>handling</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM>
            <STRONG>SIGINT</STRONG><EM>,</EM> <STRONG>SIGQUIT</STRONG>  <EM>and</EM>  <STRONG>SIGTSTP</STRONG>  <EM>signals</EM>  <EM>if</EM>  <EM>their</EM>  <EM>disposition</EM>  <EM>is</EM>
            <STRONG>SIG_DFL</STRONG> <EM>at</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>time</EM> <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> <EM>is</EM> <EM>called</EM> <STRONG>...</STRONG>

            <EM>Any</EM>  <EM>special</EM>  <EM>handling</EM>  <EM>for</EM> <EM>these</EM> <EM>signals</EM> <EM>may</EM> <EM>remain</EM> <EM>in</EM> <EM>effect</EM> <EM>for</EM>
            <EM>the</EM> <EM>life</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>process</EM> <EM>or</EM> <EM>until</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>process</EM> <EM>changes</EM> <EM>the</EM>  <EM>disposi-</EM>
            <EM>tion</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>signal.</EM>

            <EM>None</EM>  <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>Curses</EM> <EM>functions</EM> <EM>are</EM> <EM>required</EM> <EM>to</EM> <EM>be</EM> <EM>safe</EM> <EM>with</EM> <EM>respect</EM>
            <EM>to</EM> <EM>signals</EM> ...

       This implementation establishes signal handlers during  initialization,
       e.g., <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>.  Applications which must handle these signals
       should set up the corresponding handlers  <EM>after</EM>  initializing  the  li-
       brary:

       <STRONG>SIGINT</STRONG>
            The  handler  <EM>attempts</EM> to cleanup the screen on exit.  Although it
            <EM>usually</EM> works as expected, there are limitations:

            <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Walking the <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> list is unsafe, since all  list  management
                is done without any signal blocking.

            <STRONG>o</STRONG>   On systems which have <STRONG>REENTRANT</STRONG> turned on, <STRONG>set_term</STRONG> uses func-
                tions which could deadlock or misbehave in other ways.

            <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> calls other functions, many of which use stdio or other
                library functions which are clearly unsafe.

       <STRONG>SIGTERM</STRONG>
            This  uses  the same handler as <STRONG>SIGINT</STRONG>, with the same limitations.
            It is not mentioned in X/Open Curses, but  is  more  suitable  for
            this purpose than <STRONG>SIGQUIT</STRONG> (which is used in debugging).

       <STRONG>SIGTSTP</STRONG>
            This  handles the <EM>stop</EM> signal, used in job control.  When resuming
            the process,  this  implementation  discards  pending  input  with
            <STRONG>flushinput</STRONG>  (see  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>), and repaints the screen assuming
            that it has been completely altered.  It also  updates  the  saved
            terminal modes with <STRONG>def_shell_mode</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>).

       <STRONG>SIGWINCH</STRONG>
            This  handles  the  window-size  changes which were ignored in the
            standardization efforts.  The handler sets a  (signal-safe)  vari-
            able  which  is  later  tested in <STRONG>wgetch</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch(3x)</A></STRONG>).  If
            <STRONG>keypad</STRONG> has been enabled for the corresponding window,  <STRONG>wgetch</STRONG>  re-
            turns  the  key symbol <STRONG>KEY_RESIZE</STRONG>.  At the same time, <STRONG>wgetch</STRONG> calls
            <STRONG>resizeterm</STRONG> to adjust the standard screen <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, and update  other
            data such as <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLS</STRONG>.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>,  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">curs_refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>curs_ter-</STRONG>
       <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">minfo(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>.



                                                              <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-initscr">initscr</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-newterm">newterm</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-endwin">endwin</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-isendwin">isendwin</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-set_term">set_term</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-delscreen">delscreen</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-Differences">Differences</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Unset-TERM-Variable">Unset TERM Variable</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Signal-Handlers">Signal Handlers</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
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